


The Shattered Crown

by Still_Floating



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Depressing, F/M, Hurt Jughead Jones, Jughead Jones Needs a Hug, Jughead Jones-centric, POV Jughead Jones, Rating May Change, all the lies come out
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-25
Updated: 2018-03-06
Packaged: 2019-03-09 12:10:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13481220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Still_Floating/pseuds/Still_Floating
Summary: Jughead has to deal with his demons, they had to come sooner or later. Set in mid-Chapter 24 (Season 2, Ep. 11) the morning of the day he talks to Toni's grandfather in the show.





	1. Chapter One - Live The Dream

**Author's Note:**

> Set in mid-Chapter 24 (Season 2, Ep. 11) the morning of the day he talks to Toni's grandfather in the show.

_I still couldn’t believe Betty Cooper watched horror movies. My birthday, a thought at which I shuddered was months ago and I still hadn’t gotten used to her whole “the dark within” thing. I still hoped every night she hadn’t been hurting her palms while things had gone sour between us. But hell, I was just happy to have her back._

_There was a knock at the door. I sighed and paused the movie. “Yes?”_

_“Can I watch?”_

_“No JB.”_

_“Why not?”_

_I got up and opened the door.“It’s too scary for you.”_

_“No it’s not!”_

_“The last time I believed that, you had a heart attack and I slept on the floor of my own bedroom for a week and a half Jellybean.”_

_“That was like three years ago!”_

_“Yes, and you still sleep with a light on.”_

_“Mom and I aren’t used to having men in the house again, okay?”_

_“Oh so you’re scared of us?”_

_“No, I’m used to leaving the light on because I was scared without you.”_

_“I see. You’re still too little.”_

_“I’m ten, you watched scary movies when you were ten.”_

_“Jughead,” Betty interrupted, “Just let her watch. If she gets too scared, she can leave again.”_

_“Why are you always on her side?” I joked. “And anyway, why do you want to watch the movie so bad? It’s not like I haven’t been hanging with you.”  
And then I heard why. From Mom and Dad’s room I heard shouting. JB looked at me with desperation. “Okay, cone on. But how about you guys find a different movie to watch. Maybe I can finally get my wonderful little sister into super heroes?” I asked hopefully._

_“Fiiiine.”_

_“Is that okay with you Betts?”_

_“Yeah, that’s fine. We’ll revisit the dark side later.” I chuckled at her._

_“I’ll be right back, I’m gonna see what that’s all about. Sorry you had to be here for this Betty.”_

_“No, it’s okay. I understand.”_

_I went to my parents’ room and knocked. “Hey, can you guys chill? I have my girlfriend over and you’re really bugging Jellybean.”_

_“Leave us alone Jughead.”_

_“Dad come on.”_

_“Jughead…Jughead…Jughead,_

Jughead!” I jumped awake. “Get your ass to school.”

“What time is it?” I lazily checked my phone. Shit. “Okay, sorry. On my way.”

“You need to start getting up on time Jughead.”

“I know, I’m sorry I forgot to set my alarm last night.”

“Yeah, forgot or tried to get out of going to Riverdale High. Again.”

“No, seriously forgot Dad,” I said, pulling on a shirt, glad that I’d showered last night, “I have to meet with Betty about the Blue and Gold this morning. I wouldn’t just bail on her.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time.”

“Dad.” I went into the bathroom and changed into some pants and brushed my teeth.

“Grab something to eat.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice. But there’s a vending machine at school, I’ll get something out of that.”

“Okay. Have a good day.”

I walked into the room with the rest of them, still shaking off the dream from this morning. Toni was there, sitting next to Betty. _Great._ I could only imagine how that was going. "Hey Betts-" I caught myself. "Betty." I corrected loosely. I knew she'd heard me, nothing I could do about that but accept it. It was the way Toni looked at me when I said it that instinctively got under my skin.

“Hey Jug.” Betty said, looking relieved. “I was wondering where you were.”

“Yeah, sorry, I overslept. Forgot to set my alarm.”

“Use your phone,” Toni chimed in. 

“Doesn’t work. My ears were assaulted by an old style alarm clock for too many years. I don’t wake up to the soft sound of birds anymore.” She rolled her eyes at me. “So Betty, you still wanna get in what we can? We’ve still got…fifteen minutes,” I said, checking my phone. 

“Okay but we might not get through all of it. Are you okay to hang after school too?”

“Yeah no problem.” We started walking. “I’ll see you guys later, Archie text me, we haven’t seen each other in way too long.”

“Will do.” I mentally shuddered at the memory of our last bro-date. 

“So you wanna hang here after?”

“Where else would we go?”

“My house, if you want to. Can’t really go to yours.”

“Yeah, no. Mom, as much as she hated you, she’s also mad that you influenced me and then broke my poor little heart.”

“Well I’m so sorry.”

“You should be. I may even begin to weep.”

I smiled at her, letting the dangerous thought of how cute she is strike me. “Oh dear, don’t or I’ll be forced to kiss you again. I mean, you remember what happened last time don’t you?”

“In that case I’ll just start crying now.” We were laughing by this point. “Okay, but serious business…”

We got through almost nothing before the bell rang. Something just kept dragging us back to that joke, long after it would have been funny to anyone but us. I didn't mind though; it just meant more time with her later.


	2. Chapter Two - The Wyrm

At the end of the day, I texted Betty reminding her to meet me in the Blue and Gold HQ, but when I walked in there, I was painfully overcome by memories between us. “So, you never answered me. Do you wanna stay here?”

“I think Mom would assume a lot worse was going on if I told her I was going to your house.”

“Lie. Veronica and Hermoine will defend you if she asks.”

“What if she stops by to make sure? Is there anywhere else we could go?”

“Nowhere that she wouldn’t check besides the White Wyrm, and that’s the last place you need to be.”

“And why’s that?”

“Betty, with what happened at Dad’s not-quite-retirement party, I’m just not interested in hearing what those guys have to say about seeing you back there.”

“I can defend myself Jughead. Besides, I have some stuff I wanna talk to Toni about.”

“Like what? You saw her this morning.”

“Girl stuff,” she lied. God I was not used to our sweet Betty Cooper lying, especially not to me. Then again, she learned it from me.

“Fine, but I’m not leaving your side there. God knows what some of these people would do. I love the serpents but there’s a good reason I didn’t like you doing that dance.”

“You don’t need to worry about me Jughead. I can handle it.”

“I know you can.” _I just wonder if I can take it without punching the first one who comments._ “So, you really wanna go there?”

“Yeah, it’s as good a place to hide as any, unless my Mom is there looking for FP.”

“Why, she wanna crucify him for more lost crimes he didn’t commit?”

“Not to my knowledge but who knows with her.”

“Not to mention what she said when he got out of jail.” I shook the thought out of my head. “Our parents flirting is literally the creepiest thing ever.”

“They only seem to lay off when we’re together.”

“Well yeah, cuz one of us is getting thrown in jail if we both get back together. But then again, I’d rather my Dad not go back there, so I guess maybe this is better.” At some point in our walk to The White Wyrm Betty had gotten her arm linked in mine the way we used to walk when we were together. I guessed my last line was more to push her away than anything else, but the thought of my Dad in the slammer again really didn’t help.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When we got to the bar, I walked in first, holding the door for Betty behind me. There, dead inside the door, was the younger serpents. Toni, Sweetpea, and some others. I wasn’t sure where my Dad was, but I hoped he was there somewhere. Thankfully, I didn’t see Tallboy anywhere. Good, that’s not a fight she needs to see. I glared down Sweetpea preemptively, but as Betty walked in the door, Toni just couldn’t help herself. “Oh that’s why you’re giving him the evil eye.”

“What?” Betty asked, looking at me with eyes that made my head instinctively drop in false guilt. “Jug, I’m fine okay, stop glaring at your friends.”

At this moment, Betty was turned towards me, meaning she was facing away from the table. “Oh now I see why you want your northside trash back,” Sweetpea said, making me grit my teeth, “it’s for the tail.”

“Shut up Sweetpea.” There was a firm bite to my tone, but as usual, he didn’t listen. 

“Nah man, I get it. We’ve all seen plenty.”

I lunged at him only to find Betty’s hand on my chest replaced by someone behind me. “Don’t Jughead.” My Dad’s voice echoed in my head, slowly calming me down as I gave a sorry look to Betty. “Sweetpea do us all a favor and get lost.”

“Fine, I don’t need this joint.”

“You’ll be back.” Dad, said, completely uninterested in Sweetpea’s bullshit. “Now can we all put the fangs away. I’m in no mood yet. I’ve been dealing with a bunch of disrespect from angry Northsiders all day, please don’t bother one of the only two I’m alright with.”

Sweetpea’s leaving unfortunately left two seats open. “Well, sit down.” Toni said, mostly to Betty. 

“Nah, we’ve got some work to d-”

“Well do it here. I love to see you writing Jug.” Toni said this with a smirk, and I could’ve sworn I felt Betty’s mind change. 

“Actually,” she started with her fake sweet tone on, “I just wanted to ask FP if he’d mind me and Jug working on some stuff at the trailer.” She looked at Dad, and I could tell he knew she was trying to get out of here. 

“Yeah, keep out of my beer, not that Jughead would ever touch it.”

“Will do.”

“Oh before you go Betty,” Toni started, coming up to whisper something in her ear that I couldn’t quite catch.

“Look Toni, I’m not trying to start anything between you guys. I just want to work on the Blue and Gold and go home, okay?”

“Just thought you might wanna know.” Toni shrugged.

“Well thanks for the warning. Now, can we go Juggy?” I took a second to look her in the eyes, waiting to see if she’d correct herself, but it was a jealous thing, I could almost see the green menace. 

“Yeah, let’s go. See ya later Dad.”

“Don’t do anything stupid.”

“Ah, when don’t I?” When we got out of sight of the Wyrm I turned to Betty, “So what was that?”

“She...” Her eyes kind of clouded over, and I was worried she might start crying. 

“Hey, hey, you’re alright. Can I?” I began to put my arm around her slowly, giving her the time to reject me. When she didn’t, I assumed I was safe, and pulled her against my chest like I used to when we were together. 

“Thank you.” I could feel my shirt get wet.

“Alright, you don’t have to tell me, okay, but please don’t worry about it.”

“No, I can I’d just like to get in your house first if that’s okay.” She sniffled and I immediately got protective. 

“No problem.” I got her to the house quickly but without rushing her and got her a blanket and a can of soda when we got in. “I’d take you to the room, but Dad sleeps in there, and I don’t know about you, but I don’t wanna think about it.”

She smiled and my job was done. “Toni… said to stay out of the bedroom because she said she wasn’t sure how often you cleaned the sheets… Did you two…?”

I looked down. “Y-Yeah… I’m sorry. It was after you broke up with me because of the Black Hood. She gave me my tattoo and then… some other stuff happened. She stayed the night.”

“So… you’re not a-”

“I am. We didn’t go that far, and in the morning when we went to Pop’s she… kinda kicked me down anyway. Told me she was more into chicks.”

“Ouch. And that’s not what it looked like from outside the window.”

“You saw us?”

“Yeah. I didn’t want to say anything but…”

“No, I get it. I’m sorry Betty. I just… didn’t really know what to do. I thought you had no interest in me and I had just gone through they guy’s version of initiation.”

“What does that look like?”

“A lot of things. Specifically I mean being essentially Magic Circled by a bunch of serpents. They beat me up pretty good. But as long as you’re still standing at the end, you’re good.”

“I’m glad I didn’t see that.”

“Yeah, you would’ve killed me. But if I’m honest, and can I be?”

“Yes.”

“It was kind of only because you sent Archie to do it and how all of that went down that I even went through with it. Toni had warned me that there was no coming back, and I honestly wasn’t gonna do it, at least not without your say so, but I just kind of spiraled.”

“I’m so sorry…”

“No no, it’s not your fault. You protected everyone and sacrificed yourself. I’m just sorry I was so involved with a gang of all things that I wasn’t there for you.”

“It’s okay Jug.”

“Not really. And… I’m sorry to ask this but, while we’re on the subject… Have you done anything with anyone?”

“Not much. I kissed Archie for a split second the night we caught the Black Hood. I was so scared, and I was used to you being by my side in moments like that, I just kind of did it. Veronica knows, and we haven’t talked about it since, and honestly I don’t want to. I wish it never happened.”

“Then as far as I’m concerned, it didn’t.”

“Thank you,” she said, hugging against me.

I sighed, ignoring the teenage boy thoughts I was having and hugged her back.


End file.
